Skinwalker Stories from Reddit

Story 4 : Smiling Skinwalker

Written by : u/JakobLmao

Year written : 2019

I've had a draft of this story set up for awhile but I've been too worried and scared to tell.
It made me question...everything. My faith, my eyes, my sanity. I've decided it's time to
finally let others know about what I've experienced, as it may help me move on. At least that's what I hope.

I recently moved westward to Arizona from the boring state of Oklahoma. I am a devout Christian, and never once before this had I believed there were entities in existence that we couldn't hunt down with our modern advancements. It's 2019 for heavens sake. You'd figure If we wanted to find something, we would and most of all, we could.

It was the 23rd of December, 2018. I was in Payson Arizona, a bit north of Phoenix. My friends and I, in our Christmas spirit, decided to head out north of town, about 5-6 miles or so into the forest on a secluded trail. It was cold that night; some of my friends shivered and displayed obvious signs of unpreparedness. I was layered fairly well, and yet the winds and frigid cold punctured through my layers and onto me. We wanted to make a bonfire, warm up, enjoy ourselves and a few drinks.

I knew as soon as I got into the car to head that way, something was off. I felt sick, uneasy and something in my gut told me to just stay home. But I couldn't put my finger on just what, and ignored my ever so looming feelings of anxiety. We picked up friends and headed to the trail. I'm a huge nature lover, and always felt safe in the confines of the forest; I felt in control, at ease. But not tonight. It may sound cliché but...I'll be dammed if it didn't feel like someone...or something was watching me when we finally got there. And when I had gotten far enough down the trail that turning back would be no hasty endeavor, it finally hit me why I felt so eerie.

That same year, during the weeks prior to thanksgiving, I was here before. It's not a spot we usually go to, therefore I was not familiar with it, nor were my friends. We were coming out for the same reason we were in December: for a few drinks around a bonfire. It was late. I however, hadn't had any spirits that night. It was my job to gather firewood. I didn't mind, my chance to survey and explore the area around us wouldn't be bad. Before I even left our area, things took a turn for the strange.

I was at the edge of the light being cast from the small bonfire I was to gather more fuel for. In the faint glow of the far trees, I caught glimpse of something dart behind a tall pine. I asked backwards to my friends if it was out of the ordinary for people to be hanging around this spot. My query was only met with silence from them, as they drank on.

I took a few more steps beyond the comfort of the blaze, keeping my eyes affixed on the tall shadowy figure fixated behind the tall trees.
I could faintly make out that it had moved in a slight bobbing motion, like a buoy upon a tide. My immediate thoughts drew a blank as to why someone would be out here doing this. Maybe I was seeing things, or it was a prank of some sort. I opened my mouth to call out, or even crack a joke, but was mortified when I realized I could not speak. Something inside of me prevented me of making any noise. My heart raced.

As it swiftly came, it shot off into the distance like a bullet. Being startled so badly, I fell back
onto the ground and kicked myself back like a spooked animal scratching and cutting my hands as I do so. My friends saw me and laughed, thinking I was drunk. I managed to stammer out a line to what I saw, but was only met with a few blank stares and laughs making me sound stupid. For the rest of the night, I never dared step away from the beams of the bonfire.

As I walked down that trail that frigid December evening, I remember what I had seen and felt on that cold November night and my stomach dropped. My friends were slurring out Christmas carols and other drunk epiphanies. I know they wouldn't listen to me even if I spoke out, so I ignored the guttural feelings, prayed for the best and walked on.

I hadn't been drinking much this night either. I don't enjoy alcohol as much as my friends, and often I was the one responsible for herding them home when the night was over. However, to calm my tense nerves, I had a drink or two from some Jäeger we had chilled in the ice chest. It was Christmas after all. It worked. We were all having a good time, enjoying our festive feelings and generally savoring the crisp forest atmosphere.

Soon, nature called and forgetting my prior ordeal, I began to walk away from the fire to relieve myself. I walked a fair 300 or so feet away towards a big rock resting behind some fallen trees, not wanting to be seen doing my business. I was not even far enough away from the fire to not be able to hear my friends voices echoing through the woodlands.

From behind me, my friend Corbin who had come along, called out my name. I'll admit, I was tipsy, but no where near enough to not differentiate reality from a drunken stupor. I remember calling out to him, telling him to give me a moment to finish. I zipped up and turned to walk around the rock to where I heard him wonder to.

I don't know what it was, but sure as all heaven above and hell below was not Corbin.

It took me a minute for my woozy mind to put this together and stop walking towards it. I am thankful I did. This being stood tall, at least 6 to 7 feet. It's eyes burned like our fire. It moved from a doglike 4 limb position to standing tall.
The light from the moon on this cold night radiated the body showing off its dark slender shape with a inhumane sheen.

I began to sob. Violently. My mind ran in panicked circles. Seconds felt like lifetimes as my world ground to a halt at the clawed feet of the beast that I was sure was going to take my life from me right then and there. I did the only thing I could think to do. I dropped to my knees and began to pray. This monster to my petrified brain had to have been the devil himself; to imagine him anything worse than it would be impossible. It did not like my pleas to God. An unholy shriek of what I can only think to describe as someone screaming loudly with lungs full of water rang out. I screamed in terror and with all the strength I could muster, lunged backwards across the forest floor, running as fast as my legs could take me. I fell a few times. I think, in sheer panic. I just couldn't manage to get my body to work properly knowing that thing was near.

When I returned in a panicked craze to the fire, covered in sweat, dirt and tears, I managed to wheeze out what happened somewhat through my sobs of fear. I could tell they doubted whether or not what I was desperately stammering out was real or not. I think I was so horrified in that moment that I had a small seizure, because everything else is a blur. I remember going to the truck, leaving. I remember waking up the next day receiving a multitude of texts saying I was either stupid and crazy, or texts from worried friends asking if I was okay. And I also remember the last I saw of the thing before I made my frenzied flee.

When it smiled back at me through the forest and skittered off into the darkness.

A few days after Christmas, I was able to get in touch with a native elder here in town. I was so scared mentioning the event because I was worried of being mocked or him not believing me. To a twist of my thinking, I told him very vividly what I had encountered. He wholeheartedly believed and told me he it was a skinwalker. He then blessed me thoroughly and told me to leave that stretch of land alone and to never venture out there again. Next time I might not be so lucky. He didn't have to tell me twice.

I know, I know I sound crazy. If I were you, I wouldn't believe me either. But you don't have to. All you have to know is, for the love of God above and all things holy, never forget that we are not alone on this Earth.

Sometimes during the night, whenever I look out my window, I catch sight of eyes in the trees looking back at me.

I will keep this thread updated.
I am still horrified.